Matt Haarms sets new career high in Purdue's win over Penn State

Thanks in large part to a new career high for Matt Haarms, Purdue was able to record a win over Penn State in Mackey Arena on Saturday afternoon despite an ugly performance.

Haarms scored 18 points, including a game-sealing three-pointer, pushing the Boilermakers to a 76-64 win over the Nittany Lions. It was a new career high for the 7-foot-3 center. He also grabbed six rebounds in the victory.

Carsen Edwards was the only other player for Purdue to reached double figures, dropping a game-high 21 points.

Purdue started off the game in rough fashion, trailing 8-0 out of the gate. With 6:50 remaining in the first half, the Boilermakers took a 21-19 advantage for their first lead in the game. After going back and forth with Penn State for a good chunk of the half, Purdue then took a 31-28 lead with 1:51 to play in the first 20 minutes.

The Boilers never trailed again.

Purdue started the second half on a 17-4 run, building a 50-34 lead. The Boilers pushed the lead up to 17 points at 61-44, but Penn State made one final run late in the contest. The Nittany Lions pulled within five, going on an 12-0 run to close the gap to 61-56. A bucket from Grady Eifert and six made free throws from Ryan Cline, Haarms and Nojel Eastern helped put the game away.

With the win, Purdue improved to 11-3 in the conference and is just .5 games back of Michigan for first place. The Boilermakers are 18-7 overall.

Penn State fell to 9-16 on the year and 2-12 in B1G play.

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB